Unit 3

Unit 3: Age of Empires (500 C.E. - 1450 C.E.)

Unit 3 Notes:







Unit 3 Day 1
Topics: Muhammad, Five Pillars of Islam, Arab expansion, Crusades, Mongol conquest

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Assess the basic teachings of Islam.
• Analyze the success of Islamic expansion from Muhammad's battles to Mongol conquest.

Quickwrite: Name two things that Islam has in common with Judaism and Christianity.

Homework: Read Ch. 6.3 & 6.4

Unit 3 Day 2
Topics: Islamic cities, social structure, and cultural contributions

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Assess the economy and social structure of Islamic civilization.
• Evaluate the cultural contributions of Islamic civilization to science, technology, medicine, and architecture.

Quickwrite: Compare the opposing viewpoints on page 198. Do you think the success of the Arabs was due more to religious or military factors? Explain.

Homework: Read Ch. 7.1 & 7.2

Unit 3 Day 3
Topics: Medieval Africa, Kush, Axum, Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Great Zimbabwe

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze the impact of geography on the development of African civilization.
• Analyze trade networks that connected African kingdoms to Islamic and Indian empires.

Quickwrite: Identify two geographical features that impacted society in Africa.

Homework: Read Ch. 7.3

Unit 3 Day 4
Topics: Medieval African society, lineage groups, slavery, ancestral religion, griot

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze African traditions that pre-date the spread of Christianity and Islam.
• Assess African social and political structures.

Quickwrite: Explain the face mask the person is wearing on page 251.

Homework: Read Ch. 8.1 & 8.2

Unit 3 Day 5
Topics: Tang & Sung Dynasties, Mongol invasion

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze the rise of a Golden Age in China during the Tang and Sung dynasties.
• Assess the political and cultural impacts of the Mongol invasion of China.

Quickwrite: What do you notice about the map on page 265?

Homework: Read Ch. 8.3

Unit 3 Day 6
Topics: Feudal Japan, samurai, Bushido code, shogun, daimyo, Shinto, Zen Buddhism

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze the development of feudalism in Japan.
• Compare Japanese and European feudalism.
• Assess Japanese culture during the middle ages.

Quickwrite: How did geography impact Japanese society?

Homework: Read Ch. 8.4

Unit 3 Day 7
Topics: Medieval India after the Gupta Empire

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze reasons for the decline of Buddhism and the rise of Islam in India.
• Assess the impacts of Islam on Indian culture.

Quickwrite: What do you notice about the religious population of India today? (see p. 285)

Homework: Read Ch. 8.5

Unit 3 Day 8
Topics: Southeast Asian civilization (Vietnam, Thailand, Malay Peninsula)

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze the geographic barriers that led to the development of distinct cultures in Southeast Asia.
• Compare and connect the civilizations that emerged in Southeast Asia.

Quickwrite: Name the countries that developed in the following regions: Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia.

Homework: Read Ch. 9.1 & 9.2

Unit 3 Day 9
Topics: Europe after Rome, the Catholic Church, Charlemagne, Feudalism

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze how medieval European civilization combined Germanic, Roman, and Christian cultures.
• Assess the decline of centralized power and the rise of feudalism in Europe.

Quickwrite: Name the Germanic kingdoms that took over Europe after Rome. Where did the Roman Empire still exist?

Homework: Read Ch. 9.3 & 9.4

Unit 3 Day 10
Topics: England, France, Holy Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Crusades, Magna Carta

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Analyze how monarchs began to extend their power and build strong states, such as England and France.
• Evaluate the struggle for power between the monarchs and nobles of Europe.
• Assess how the Byzantine Empire created a unique civilization that was eventually weakened by the Crusades.

Quickwrite: What does it mean when historians say that the European code of chivalry in the Middle Ages was "more romance than reality"? (see p. 314)

Homework: Read Ch. 10.1 & 10.2

Unit 3 Day 11
Topics: Middle Ages, peasants, serfs, lords, money economy, medieval Christianity, the Inquisition, relics

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Assess the growth of economy and society as Europe became more prosperous in the Middle Ages.
• Analyze the power of the Church in medieval society.

Quickwrite: Name two new developments in agriculture that allowed Europeans to feed more people.

Homework: Read Ch. 10.3 & 10.4

Unit 3 Day 12
Topics: Middle Ages, Black Plague, Church decline, Hundred Years' War, rise of Spain

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Assess technological and intellectual innovations that helped to revive European culture.
• Analyze how powerful nation-states emerged out of the war, plague, and religious rivalry of the Middle Ages.

Quickwrite: Describe the Gothic architecture on page 349.

Homework: Read Ch. 11.2 (Yes, 11.2!)

Unit 3 Day 13
Topics: Central American civilization, Olmec, Maya, Aztec

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Assess the rise and fall of empires in Central America.
• Compare the cultures of the Maya and Aztec civilizations.

Quickwrite: Why were the Olmec called the "rubber people"?

Homework: Read Ch. 11.1 & 11.3

Unit 3 Day 14
*End of six weeks grading period*
Topics: North and South American civilization, Inca Empire

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Differentiate the unique groups that developed in North America after humans migrated across the Bering Strait.
• Analyze how the Inca developed as a well-organized, militaristic empire in South America.

Quickwrite: From what continent did humans first migrate to the Americas?

Homework: Study for test on Ch. 6-11.

Unit 3 Day 15
Topics: Unit 3 Test tomorrow!

Learning Objectives:
Students will

• Catch up and review for Unit 3 test tomorrow on chapters 6-11.

Quickwrite: Create a multiple choice question that might be on the test tomorrow.

Homework: Study for test on Ch. 6-11

Unit 3 Test Day
Homework: Read Ch. 12.1 & 12.2

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Links:
Timbuktu Activity
Were Mongols Barbarians?